Meet Bar & Izakaya opens in Commack

Izakaya has crept ever so stealthily onto Long Island — first, in the form of small plates, such as kara-age (Japanese-style fried chicken) or yakitori skewers lurking quietly on the menu of Japanese restaurants where the majority show up for sushi.

About three years ago, those snacks began to be the main event. Meet Izakaya, which opened in Rockville Centre in 2019, was one of the first dedicated izakaya places for miles; its sister restaurant, Meet Bar & Izakaya in Commack, opened this month in the Mayfair Shopping Center in Commack, with nary a sushi roll on the menu.

Owner Xiang Lin, with executive chef Andy Lin, also oversees the Rockville Centre original; Kashi restaurants in Syosset and Rockville Centre; JBBQ in Bay Shore and Smithtown; and Cajun Claws in Patchogue.

Meet Bar in Commack retains the same ambience of the original — a cross between a serene bar and a Japanese farmhouse — but with a warmer, more intimate vibe of low lighting, jade-green leather booths, and wooden rafters and cubbies that lend the place the feel of a hideout.

In keeping with its genre — izakayas are equally devoted to eating and drinking — the kitchen composes all manner of raw, grilled, fried and steamed dishes that play well with sake, beer, shochu and Japanese-influenced cocktails, plus a deep well of Japanese whiskey and spirits. The small plates are artful — such as crispy rice topped with seared yellowtail, quail eggs and caviar; salt-grilled salmon or yellowtail collar (kama); kara-age chicken; pork-belly bao; or warm maitake mushrooms with miso-laced sweet potatoes and a soy glaze. The kitchen also skewers a robust lineup of yakitori, from lamb to okra to pork belly; heartier eats include bowls of ramen and large plates such as falling-from-the-bone braised short ribs with barbecue sauce. (The small plates fall between $8 and $17; yakitori skewers are $15 for three; ramen is $20, and larger plates, $26 to $30).

As the name suggests, the bar is a focal point — with three sides to foster small talk — and is well-stocked with sake, Japanese and domestic beers, and some rare Japanese whiskeys, some of which are served as flights; others land in cocktails such as the Kyoto Mule — Japanese whiskey, plum wine, ginger beer and lime juice zinged up with cardamom bitters. 

The Mayfair Shopping Center is evolving into a destination for East Asian food; Lin will open the third location of JBBQ soon in the same plaza.

Meet Izakaya, 10 Jericho Tpke., Commack; 631-343-7066, meetizakaya.com